What Is Terrorism?

Senator Ben Sasse recently visited San Bernardino and spoke on the terrorist shootings:

We are not at war with terrorism, which is just a tactic. We are not at war with some empty sociological label called extremism. We are not even just at war with ISIS; though we’re obviously at war with ISIS, but there will be other enemies that will lift the black flag of death in the future even after ISIS has been routed in Syria and Iraq. This is not about workplace violence. This is not about global warming or gun shows. This is not about income inequality. This is not about kids from broken homes as tragic as that is. This is not about anything that we have done wrong. This is about who we are. This is about the nature of freedom so who are we, we’re people who unite around the Constitution, we’re people who come together around a First Amendment and we together, 320 million of us, believe in the freedom of religion, in the freedom of speech, and the freedom of assembly and the freedom of the press . . .

. . . We are most certainly though at war with militant Islam; we are at war with violent Islam; we are at war with jihadi Islam. We are not at war with all Muslims; we are not at war with Muslim families in Dearborn, Michigan who want the American dream for their kids. But we are at war with those who believe that they will kill in the name of religion. President Obama said tonight he’s worried about a backlash against American Muslims. I am too, and you know what, the best way to combat that is? With the truth. By being clear about who we are and what we stand for and by being clear about those who would try to kill us because we believe in freedom.

President Obama opined Sunday night, “So far, we have no evidence that the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas, or that they were part of a broader conspiracy here at home.”

Oops, writes NRO’s Jim. Geraghty. Not so fast, Mr. President. A high level source reported late Sunday night that investigators are pursuing several lines of inquiry that tie Farook and Malik to the Middle East, “including the possibility that the two’s deadly rampage had been financed from overseas.”

We felt from early on these two couldn’t have done this alone,” the source said of the shooting in which the husband and wife killed 14 people at a county office building and injured 21 others. The source also said that the amount of evidence pointing in the direction of the Middle East had forced the Obama administration to “do an about-face” about the nature of Wednesday’s attack over the previous 24 hours.

Furthermore, as Jim Geraghty points out, there sure was a lot of ammo, firepower and pipe-bomb material lying around for a household getting by on Farook’s county employee’s salary of about $55,000 annually.

Sunday evening from the Oval Office, President Obama made another pitch for barring anyone on the no-fly list or terror watch list from purchasing firearms while ignoring any objections, whether it’s the lack of due process or judicial review. But you know who wasn’t on the no-fly list, writes Mr. Geraghty. “The San Bernardino shooters. Nor was the Fort Hood shooter. Nor the Boston bombers. Nor the Chattanooga shooter. In other words, no perpetrator of any major attack on American soil was on the no-fly list.” Read more from Mr. Geraghty here.

Debbie Young

Debbie, editor-in-chief of Richardcyoung.com, has been associate editor of Dick Young’s investment strategy reports for over three decades. When not in Key West, Debbie spends her free time researching and writing in and about Paris and Burgundy, France, cooking on her AGA Cooker, and practicing yoga.